Roncesvalles Reconstruction

[allabootmatt]

Streetcar Steve Munro is hosting an interesting discussion of the planned redesign of Roncesvalles, which will involve some major streetscape improvements and, most interestingly, building 'bump outs' at streetcar stops to bring the sidewalk right up to the door of the vehicle. www.roncesvallesrenewed.org has some interesting details.

I rather like the idea, although as always I fear that we won't be getting the full benefit of the rebuild because various stakeholders don't want to pony up the cash; Hydro, for example, has no interest in even touching the ludicrous wooden poles up and down the street. But for transit it seems like a big win.

 

[rh-7]

Yeah, I think that looks like a good idea.

 

[junctionist]

Hydro should take these opportunities to work towards a faster city-wide phase out of overhead cables. The bump outs will help the elderly and disabled access transit especially in conjunction with the new low floor streetcars.

Steve Munro's blog entry on this deserves a link too.

 

[salvius]

I love Roncy so much it's ridiculous. And this is going to make it even better. The bumpouts are a brilliant idea. I'd be surprised if there's no opposition to this, but hopefully there will be none.

 

[Hydrogen]

Too bad the hydro infrastructure won't be buried.

 

[W. K. Lis]

They should bury the hydro & telephone lines. When the trees mature, they will interfere with the wires. It seems that burying wires is low on the interest scale.
And of course the old water pipes should be replaced as well. When were the current pipes laid? At the same time Roncesvalles was a sub-division in a suburb of Toronto?

 

[allabootmatt]

It's the usual 'too expensive' excuse that we are used to hearing from Hydro. That said, there's a lot that can be done without full-on burial--I would be shocked if more than 50% of the wires and transformer boxes that currently blight so many streets are actually necessary or doing anything. For an example of what a street looks like without wire burial, but with redundant wires and poles removed, check out Queen east of Broadview. It actually looks quite good.

 

[Admiral Beez]

These bump-outs sound dangerous for cyclists trying to go around the left of the streetcar. Wouldn't they also impede the other users of the road? Seems the better solution would be to have the streetcars in the right lane all the time, with bump-ins for on-street parking, right turns, etc.

 

[spaced]

from Roncy BIA

Widening the Sidewalk: A proposal by the TTC and the City suggests widening
the sidewalk in order to allow riders to board the streetcar without crossing a
traffic lane. This would allow for greater use of the sidewalk, including patios
and merchandise displays. The proposal would significantly reduce on-street
parking, however.

I have to agree with A.Beez that this would be dangerous for cyclist--speaking as someone who use to regularly cycle and take the transit down this stretch.
This plan would bottleneck traffic (especially from left turns) making the Streetcar less efficient than it already is--at Howard Park and Roncy at least (of which this picture is from). I would love to see these 'bump-outs' at most stops between Howard Park and Dundas West--as long as there is space for cyclists. But at major intersection I don't agree that this if forward thinking.

 

[CapitalSeven]

Perhaps the idea is that cyclists will have to stop once in a while.

 

[Tewder]

Agreed, the city should be designed around public transit, not bikes.

 

[Hydrogen]

Though there is room to mark out a grid of reserved bike lanes on other streets. I'd prefer that to seeing a compromise for transit and a compromise for bikes on the same street.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Agreed, the city should be designed around public transit, not bikes.

The city should be designed around the transit methods of its population. If for example, 50% of the people use cars in the city, then they should get a good portion of the design input.

 

[maestro]

For an example of what a street looks like without wire burial, but with redundant wires and poles removed, check out Queen east of Broadview. It actually looks quite good.

The so called redundant wires were in service Hydro wires and are now buried. The remaining wires (on the south side?) service the streetcar system.

 

[smuncky]

Streetcar Steve Munro

is that steve's new nickname?